Guard for presses.



J. J. BROPHY 8L W. C. ROCHE.

GUARD FOR PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.15,1913.

1,145,346. Patented July 6, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

wi'lnesses. Elven tors.

COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH CO-,\VASHINOTON. D. C.

J. J. BROPHY & W. C. ROCHE.

GUARD FOR PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 5, 1913. 1 1,145,346, Patented July 6, 1915.

- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

i3 i 15 Q o 20 rj 1e,

UMWWLK COLUMBIA PLANOGRAFH CO.,WASHINOTDN. D. c, I

JOHN J. BROPHY, or s LEM, AND WESL Y o. ROCHE,

or B ERLY, MASSAOHUSETTS,-

} Ass eNoHs To THE TURNER TANNING MACHINERY COMPANY, oFPn'ABoDY, MAs-SACHUSETTS, A ooRPoRATmNoF' MAINE.

v GUARD FOR, rnnssns.

Application filed December 15, 1913. Serial No. 806,681.

' To all whom it may concern:

, which a movable member or platen is em Be it known that we, JOHN J.BRorHY and WESLEY. C. ROCHE, citizens of the United States, andresidents of Salem and Beverly, in the county of Essex and State ofMassachusetts, respectively, have invented an Improvement in Guards forPresses,of which the following description, in connection with theaccompanying drawings, is aspecification, like characters on, thedrawings repreportion of a'press provided with a guard or' safety devicein accordance 'wlth th1sin senting like parts.

This inventlon relatesto "a safety device or guard for presses andlikemachines, in

ployed, and is herein-shown as embodied in a press substantially such asshown'in U. i Patent No. 98lfl68 dated January 10, 1911, which is,especially "adapted for pressing hides, skins and leather.

In the press shown in the patent referred to, an upper platen and alower platen are employed, and the upper platen is moved down intoitsoperative position and is then held'stationary while the work is beingsubjected topressure by the lower platen which is 'moved toward the.upper platen.

. The movement oftheupper platen into its lowered or operative positionis controlled by a starting device, shown as a foot treadle, I

and the present. invention has for its object to provide a guard orsafety device, which is moved into operative relation to the lowerplaten, so as to oiferan obstruction to the hands of theoperator andprevent himcfrom placing his hand or hands on the lower platen and inposition to be injuredby the upper platen, when the latter is loweredinto its operative position.

In the present instance,; one embodiment of the invention is shown, inwhich the guard or safety devicecontrols the starting device for theupper platen, which will be hereinafter referred to as the movableplaten,v as the lower platen is stationary until the upper platenha-sbeen moved into its operative-position. a v .pInthepresent embodimentofthe invention, the guardorsafetydevice is movable upwardly with themovable platen, and is and said mechanism, eontrols the starting.

device for the press,.as will be described,

so that, the guard is first operated and brought into its operativeposition with re: latlon to the lower or stationary platen or bed,before the starting device for the press i can be operated. I

These and other features of this invention will be pointed out in theclaims at the end of this specification.

Specification of Letters Patent. Pat ht d 'f ly 6 1 15; 1

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a sufficient vention, to enable the.latter to. be understood, the guard being shown in its operativeposition and the movablegplaten in" its inoperative position. Fig. 2, asimilar View of the press with the guard in its inoperative position,and Fig. 3, a detail showing both the guard and movable platen intheiroperative positions,

The construction of the press herein shown. is substantially the "sameas; that shown in the patent referredto and-[only a: Sllflicient portionof the same is herein 1 shown, to enable the present invention to I y Iso be understood.

Referring to the drawings, represents 2 the upper-platen, which issecured to:a lever', b, which is mechanically operatedas de-j scribed inthe patent referredto so as to move the platen a from its raised or.inope. erative position shown iniFigsland into its operative positionshowninFig. 3, in which latter position it cooperateswith a lower platenc, which is normally stationary until the upper platen has been broughtintoits operative position, after which the lower platen 0 ismovedtoward the now stationary upper platen to compress the work "inter:

is pp r e y a p o amt t. Shawn). l

but which is located in a cylinder d: {and is moved byflu'id pressureadmitted into the 7 cylinder and controlled as described in the v patentreferred ,to; The mechanism Ywhigh u n y t S as in the Pa nt referredto;F

To safeguardthe injury operates themovable'upper platen a is, con}trolled bya Starting device or foot treadle' I or hi e ead rhandshieh'seii t apli e if he should designedly or accidentally depress thefoot treadle e, while his hand is on the work supported by the lowerplaten, as for instance While smoothing out the work on the lowerplaten, a guard is provided, which is associated with the foot treadleor starting device 6, so as to render said start ing device inoperativeuntil the guard has been brought into its operative position.

In the present instance, the guard is shown as a bar 10, which may be ofwood or other suitable material and extends in front of the movableplaten a, and is adapted to rest upon the table or support 12 for thework. The bar 10 may be provided with end extensions or side bars 13,only one of which is shown, and which extend on opposite sides of themovable platen a for the whole or a portion of the length of said sides.The front bar 10 and the side bars 13 form an inclosing frame which issecured to a movable support, shown as a lever 15, which is mounted onthe pivot 16 for the lever Z) carrying the movable platen.

It may be preferred to provide two levers 15, one at each side of thepress and both mounted on the pivot 16. The guard 10 controls means forrendering the foot treadle e inoperative, and in the present instance,said means is shown as a bolt or latch 18, which is secured to or formspart of the armature 19 of an electromagnet 20, preferably a solenoid,which is suitably sup ported in proximity to the foot treadle 6, sothat, the bolt or latch 18 may be projected into the path of movement ofthe treadle and prevent its downward movement to start the press inoperation.

Provision is made for energizing the solenoid 20, so as to withdraw thelatch or bolt 18 and leave the starting treadle 6 free to be operated.Tothis end a circuit controller is provided, one member 21 of which issecured to the lever b carrying the movable platen a, and the othermember 22 of which is movable with the guard. The member 21 is shown asa roller or disk, and the member 22 as an arm attached to the supportinglever 15, and having its free end adapted to .engage the roller or disk21, and thus complete the circuit in which the solenoid 20 is included.In the present instance the solenoid 20 has one end of its coilconnected by wire 23 with the member 21, and its other end connectedjbywire 24 with one pole of the battery 25, which has its other poleconnected by wire 26 with the frame 27 of the press and thereby with themovable member 22 of the circuit controller. Normally the member 22 ofthe circuit controller is out of contact with the member 21, see Fig. 2,and the solenoid 20 is denergized, andthe latch or bolt 18 is projectedinto the path of movement of the starting treadle e, which may beeffected by a suitable spring 28 indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 1and 2. l/Vhen the guard is in its lowered or operative position, themember 22 engages the member 21 and closes the circuit of the solenoid,which attracts its core and moves the latch or bolt 18 out of engagementwith the treadle 6, thereby leaving the latter free to be depressed tostart the press in operation to lower the platen a into its operativeposition, represented in Fig. 3.

Provision is made for holding the guard in its raised or inoperativeposition shown in Fig. 2, and for releasing said guard and allowing itto drop into its operative position shown in Fig. 1, while the movableplaten a remains in its elevated position. In the present instanceonearrangement of mechanism is shown for accomplishing this result. To thisend, the supporting lever 15 for the guard 10 is provided with a bentarm or hook 30, which is adapted to engage a latch or projection 31 on alever 32, pivoted at 33 to the movable platen a, and having its free orupper end operatively connected with a foot treadle or lever 34. In thepresent instance, the lever 32 is provided with a hole through which arod 35 is passed and has a play therein, and said rod is encircled by aspring 36, which bears at one end against the lever 32 and at its otherend against a fixed collar 37 on the said rod. The rod 35 is furtherprovided at its free end with a nut 38, and has its other end pivotallyconnected to one end of an elbow lever 40, pivoted to the lever b andhaving its other end joined by a link 41 to an elbow lever 42, which isjoined by a link 43 to the foot treadle 34. These connections are suchthat when the foot treadle 34 is depressed,

the rod 35 is moved in the direction of the 1 arrow 45 in Fig. 2, andthe spring 36 is compressed and moves the lever 32 so as to disengagethe latch 31 from the hook 30, and thereby leave the guard free to bemoved by gravity or otherwise down into its operative position shown inFigs. 1 and 3, in which position, it rests on the table 12 and forms aclosure or obstruction, which prevents the operator inadvertentlyplacing his hand upon the lower platen or upon the work thereon, and thevery fact that he must first operate the lever 34 before he can operatethe starting treadle 6 serves to call his attention to the fact that hishands should not be on the work or on the lower platen or bed, and if heshould accidentally step on the starting treadle 6 before the guard islowered no harm will be done, as the starting treadle cannot be operateduntil he has first depressed the guard treadle or lever 34. The lever 32is acted upon by a spring 50, which serves to keep the latch 31 inengagement with the hook 30 in the elevated position of the guard andmovable platen, and which also serves to return the lever 32 into itsnormal position after the latch 31 has been disengaged from the hook 30,so that, when the movable platen a is lowered into its operativeposition, the latch 31 will click by the hook 30 on the downwardmovement of the platen a and will pass under and into engagement withsaid hook, so that, when the platen a is moved upwardly into itsinoperative or starting position, the guaro will be carried therewithinto its elevated or inoperative position shown in Fig. 2.

In the present instance one embodiment of the invention is shown asapplied to one construction of press,but it is not desired to limit theinvention to the particular arrangement or construction of guard and itscooperating mechanism herein shown or to its application to theparticular press or apparatus shown. The members 22, 21 of the circuitcontroller are arranged so that the circuit of the electromagnet 20 willnot be closed until the guard is in its fully lowered or operativeposition, so that, if the operator should depress the treadle 34 withhishand on the bed or lower platen 0, the guard will be released andwill descend and strike the hand of the operator, but the startingtreadle 6 will not be released, as the hand will prevent the guard beinglowered sufficiently to bring the member 22 of the circuit controllerinto contact with the member 21, and the locking or holding device 18will remain in its operative position, until the hand of the operatorhas been withdrawn from under the guard. The bottom of the guard may becovered with suitable material to prevent injury to the hand if itshould be struck by the guard.

Claims. v

1. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a movableplaten, a starting device controlling the movement of said movableplaten, a cooperating platen toward which the movable platen is moved, aguard detachablysecured to said movable platen, means for releasing saidguard to enable it to move toward the cooperating platen in advance ofthe movable platen, a locking device to render said starting deviceinoperative, an electromagnet for operating saidlocking device torelease said starting I 7 device, and a circuit controller for saidelectromagnet actuated by said guard, substanand means movable with-said.movable platen and cooperating with said guard for raising said guardwith the movable platen. v

' 3. In an apparatus of the character de scribed, in combinatiomamovable platen, a

V guard cooperating therewith, means carried by said movable platen fornormally' holding said guard in its inoperative position,

and means for releasing said guard from said platen to enable the guardto be moved into its operative position independently of the saidplaten.

4. In an apparatus of'the characterde scribed, in combination, a movableplaten, a

Starting device; for Said movable platen a. f guard detachablvsecured tosaid movable" 85 platen, means for releasing said guard from saidplaten, a locking device to render said starting device inoperative, anelectromagnet for operating said locking device to release said startingdevice, and a circuit con troller for lsaid-electromagnet actuated bysaid guard.

In testimony, whereof, we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN J. BROPHYQ" WESLEYGROGHE.

Witnesses:

H. A. HOLD R, I GEORGE P. BECKE'lfl.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five centseach, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

